Psychiatrists treating child killer Guy Turcotte say the former cardiologist's mental state deteriorated after it was announced last November that he would face a new trial.

Renée Roy, a psychiatrist at the Philippe Pinel Institute where Turcotte was being held at the time, said his patient experienced major depression and psychotic episodes and was on medication for both.

Roy and other psychiatrists asserted today, however, that Turcotte is not a danger to himself or the public.

Turcotte is seeking a conditional release at the courthouse in St-Jérôme, north of Montreal, pending his new trial for the 2009 stabbing deaths of his two children.

The former cardiologist was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Olivier, 5, and Anne-Sophie, 3.